India's first ever Horror Short film festival

When it comes to horror, Indian cinema has a lot of catching up to do as this particular genre is rarely explored. And to make matters worse, films that are meant to scare end up making the audiences laugh. Although horror short films are common in US and Europe, it’s a fairly new concept in our country.

Against this uncertain backdrop, India’s first horror short film festival is scheduled to showcase six films that have been shortlisted out of 50-60 entries from across the globe.

A still from An Evening With My Comatose Mother

The screenings will be held in seven cities including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Delhi, Guwahati and Pune. The event kick starts in Mumbai on Friday the 13th.

“We chose this day deliberately as the date has a superstitious yet spooky feel to it and it doesn’t come too often,” points out Cyrus Dastur—founder of a city-based short film club that’s curating the festival. The organisers have reportedly spent six months in preparation.

A still from Love Hurts

Meanwhile, social media has played a significant role in raising awareness about the event. Cyrus adds, “It’s a tricky situation and challenging too. Besides, people are familiar with horror movies but the idea of short films in this category is pretty raw and hopefully will gain ground.

Though our target audience falls in the clichéd 16-25-year age bracket, I think anyone who appreciates good horror films can enjoy them.”

The short films that will be screened are An Evening With My Comatose Mother (USA), Mazaak Mat Karna (India), Chambers (Norway), Love Hurts (Netherlands), Bloodtraffick (Hong Kong) and Divination (USA).